The Lowdown on It’s a Wonderful World

It’s a Wonderful World is the upcoming DS game by the team that did Kingdom Hearts over at Square Enix. The story follows a boy named Neck who wakes up only to realize he has seven days left to live. Just for kicks, the God of Death has chosen to play a game with Neck. Our guy goes outside and looks up at the Outback Cafe, only to witness both horrible and wonderful things that he must deal by using his psychic abilities.

A girl called Tsuki joins Neck and both of you are battle against monsters called “Noise” to find out what’s really going on. Like everything else in the game (such as the Outback Cafe modelled after the biggest Starbucks store in Tokyo), Noise are based on the real world. The Noise are altered animals: monstrous dogs, evil pigeons, and such.

The game is rich with style. Artistic flair can be seen everywhere, and will probably remind you heavily of Jet Grind Radio. The clothing, the settings, even the way the text is displayed and the story is told just oozes with personality. It’s a real visual treat!

Click “Full Article” for the gameplay details!

It’s a Wonderful World is the upcoming DS game by the team that did Kingdom Hearts over at Square Enix. The story follows a boy named Neck who wakes up only to realize he has seven days left to live. Just for kicks, the God of Death has chosen to play a game with Neck. Our guy goes outside and looks up at the Outback Cafe, only to witness both horrible and wonderful things that he must deal by using his psychic abilities.

A girl called Tsuki joins Neck and both of you are battle against monsters called “Noise” to find out what’s really going on. Like everything else in the game (such as the Outback Cafe modelled after the biggest Starbucks store in Tokyo), Noise are based on the real world. The Noise are altered animals: monstrous dogs, evil pigeons, and such.

The game is rich with style. Artistic flair can be seen everywhere, and will probably remind you heavily of Jet Grind Radio. The clothing, the settings, even the way the text is displayed and the story is told just oozes with personality. It’s a real visual treat.

Gameplay relies heavily on the DS’ touch screen and dual screen. Anyone hoping for a PSP port can just give up now. The bottom screen features Neck and you’ll be doing everything for him with the stylus. You can attack enemies by tapping them to bring down bolts of lightning. You can also hover in the air and paint fire on them. He also has psychic abilities which you can use to move around cars and other objects.

You battle the Noise by using d-pad presses. The way it works is kind of like a rhythm game in which you have to press the direction the screen tells you to press. Unlike a rhythm game, the timing doesn’t really matter. However, you have something else to worry about – managing both Tsuki and Neck at the same time on two different screens!

There is also an overworld which you can explore. Neck has psychic abilities so you can read the minds of all the civilians who walk by. You can tap them to go deeper into their minds and find out more about what’s really going on. Something might just point you in the right direction on getting out of this “Game of Death” alive!

The game is based heavily on modern day downtown Tokyo so it might not be released outside Japan. Hopefully Square Enix will take the chance! It’s a Wonderful Life is set for release in 2007 in Japan.

Via IGN